1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to detergent compositions comprising subtilisin variants as the enzyme, in particular a Bacillus sp. subtilisin variant. In particular the present invention relates to such compositions to be used in automatic washing processes, such as automatic dishwashing processes.
2. Background
It is well known to use detergent compositions in applications such as laundry processes and automatic dishwashing.
In order to obtain good cleaning performance on proteinaceous stains, e.g., egg yolk, milk and meat stains, it is desirable to include a protease enzyme in detergent compositions to be used in laundry and dishwashing processes (especially automatic dishwashing applications). Such stains are not readily removed by bleaching agents or other types of enzymes but can make up a significant proportion of the stains encountered in laundry and dishwashing.
It is usual to formulate such laundry and automatic dishwashing detergent compositions at alkaline pHs to optimize the overall performance of these compositions. However, such alkaline pHs are generally unsuitable for protease enzymes resulting in poor performance and/or stability, or, they may require specialised protease enzymes to be formulated which are more effective in alkaline pHs but which often exhibit limited performance. Furthermore they may be difficult to formulate into a wide range of detergent product formats.
Accordingly there is a need in the art to provide laundry and dishwashing compositions (especially automatic dishwashing compositions) which show good efficacy on proteinaceous stains and in particular which compositions can be formulated at alkaline pHs whilst still exhibiting effective removal of such stains. There is also a need to provide such compositions which in addition which exhibit good performance on bleachable stains and/or provide good streak resistance in dishwashing applications.
It is an object of the present invention to address one or more of the above-mentioned problems.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide laundry detergent compositions and dishwashing detergent compositions which are effective in the removal of proteinaceous stains. It is also an object of the present invention to provide such compositions which show good performance on bleachable stains and/or provide good filming and/or spotting resistance in dishwashing applications.